Page 69 of How Does It Feel?

I expected him to shove me to the ground and pull his arm away, but instead, he just stared for a moment and then continued, leaving my hand clinging to his forearm for support.

“I will hold nothing but relief once you are dead,” he whispered, studying my mouth before his volume increased yet again. “A game,” he stated. “I will attempt to kill you three more times, human. If, by some gift of fate, you should live past my efforts, then I will return you to the humans alive.”

The crowd erupted into boisterous shouts and applause.

“No, please! I can’t—I’m just a scientist! Please!” I begged him, grabbing both his arms in a frantic haze.

That damned dimple appeared on his face as he looked at my hands and smirked.

“The first of the three trials starts immediately.” His voice boomed loudly as he held my eyes with his humorless expression.

His hands gripped my bare arms, mirroring my actions on him. His palm subtly grazed the skin below my shoulders as he stepped into me.

His voice was a soft whisper that only my ears could hear. “May your death be fast . . . for both our sakes,” his gravelly voice rumbled across my bare skin.

He took a step back, and instantly the room began to blur and spin as the stars above soon blanketed my vision and complete darkness consumed me.

* * *

Cold air blossomed across the skin not covered by my white gown. I opened my eyes to see the beautiful stars, the same that decorated the ballroom’s ceilings. I shifted to sit up and waited for the nauseating feeling in my mind to leave.

I was sitting in the dirt outside.

Distant cries and shouts crept around me as I hurried to my feet.

Where was I?

This was not the forest I had been in prior to being taken to the castle. No, this one was much more daunting. The moss was still green across the floor, and the bark was still a shadow-filled brown, but the foliage of the many trees and bushes were all various shades of red and crimson. Like the trees themselves bled.

The blood forest.

It had to be. How could it ever be called anything else? I had heard mention of its horrors in the dungeon.

Red fog covered the ground like a gory haze of bloody vapor.

I jumped as distant shouts and laughter echoed somewhere. Was that the crowd?

This was the first trial. What wa—

Without warning, small sparks dropped from the sky and seared into my skin like a cigarette as giant shadows shifted the moonlight overhead.

I cried out in pain and fell to the dirt floor, clutching my arm.

Small glowing circles of whatever had fallen and hit my arm lined the forest floor. I screamed in shock, having lay right on a few of the weird glowing droplets.

Blistering hot acid burned as the small balls embedded themselves into my skin.

My high-pitched wail seemed to draw whatever dark clouds held the acid orbs closer.

I ran to a path between two trees as I struggled to remove the searing orbs of acid from my arms and thighs.

My legs carried me fast. No longer commanded by my mind but fueled only by the unalloyed adrenaline that coursed through my tired system.

I ran as fast as my legs and dress would allow into the scarlet forest.

Red leaves thrashed against my face and body with each step as wind and my heartbeat slammed a taunting tune in my head, drowning out any of my remaining senses.

The black clouds trailed me, raining more acid droplets in their wake.